[beckett]

If instead of inventing the designation "Transjordan," he'd just called the eastern territory "Palestine" and the west "Israel" (or "Judah"), the Arafatist claim would be a much tougher sell.

It is so amazing to consider the effect the Great British World Carvers had in the period ca 1918-1948. In Ireland, the Balkans, the Middle East, Africa, the sub-continent --- all of those decisions on borders and new countries, some of them incredibly bone-headed, are still plaguing us today. We are still paying the penalty for European colonialism

[okie01]

"...all of those decisions on borders and new countries, some of them incredibly bone-headed, are still plaguing us today. We are still paying the penalty for European colonialism."

Initially, that was my thought, too.

But, then, I got to thinking. Is the tragic post-colonial history of peoples in Africa and the Middle East simply a function of the way their borders were drawn?

With hindsight, how would one draw them today so that the tribal strife and tyrannical impulse would have been dampened?

I've since concluded that colonialism has precious little to do with the problem.